Page 12

ERNESTO

The waiting room is full of De Lucas. It’s like being in the lion’s den. If the lions wore designer suits, smelled like danger, and made you want to count your bullets twice.

I'm surprised when Bianca offers me her seat next to Nerissa.

More because neither Miceli, nor Salvatore demand it for themselves.

The De Lucas aren't your normal ruling family, but with a capo, a don, his consigliere and the fucking godfather in their ranks, no one can deny they have more power than any other family in the Cosa Nostra.

Ilaria De Luca, Nerissa's mother is sitting on Big Sal's lap. I've never seen the consigliere look so at peace.

Until his eyes land on me. Assessing.

I'm close to Nerissa, not because she needs me there, but because my formerly frozen soul demands I be where the temperature is highest.

She’s fire. Anyone with eyes can see that. What they don’t see is how precise that fire is. She doesn’t burn without aim. She incinerates what needs to be destroyed and lights a path through the dark for the people she loves.

More at home discussing territory strategy than where to get the best cannoli, my woman is calm, cool, and lethal. And so fucking sexy, she takes my breath away.

The first time I saw her, it felt like someone shot me while I was wearing body armor. My chest hurt and it was hard to breathe. As soon as I found out who she was, a capo's daughter – this was before Big Sal was promoted to consigliere – I knew I didn't have a chance.

We might be equal in rank, but our families are nowhere near equal. My dad was a drunken, low level soldier and my mom doesn't even know I'm a member of the Cosa Nostra. After dad died, she moved to Savannah to live with her sister.

We call each other at Christmas and our birthdays. That's about it. For all intents and purposes, I'm the equivalent to an orphan as far as the Genovese Family is concerned.

That didn't stop Domenico from giving me a chance on his crew, but I never would have approached Nerissa.

Good thing for me that the woman with a vise like grip on my heart doesn't wait around for a man to make his move. She came for me and none of my training in the military, or the mafia prepared me for her kind of assault.

Strength, honesty and a sensuality she never shows anyone but me is apparently my kryptonite. Even knowing that Big Sal would never approve of our relationship, I let myself get drawn into her orbit.

Now I'm completely addicted to my sun and if I ever lose her, it won't just be my soul that will go back to the frozen wasteland.

A weaker woman would leave me broken hearted. Nerissa De Luca stands up for what she wants and that's me.

I’ve served under two capos, worked with hackers, runners, lieutenants and killers. None of them scare me.

She does.

Not because I’m afraid she’ll hurt me, but because I know I’d burn down my whole world if she asked me to.

I’d give up everything just to stay in her orbit.

And Sal De Luca knows it. His eyes are heavy on me. Measuring. Weighing. Judging whether I’m good enough to breathe the same air as his daughter.

I meet his gaze, mine steady.

I won’t flinch.

I may not come from mafia royalty, but I’m the man who will take torture and a bullet before I let Nerissa fall. And I think— I hope —he knows that.

Nerissa brushes her hand against my forearm, the barest touch, but it singes me, marking me like a brand.

Big Sal notices, but instead of anger or disgust in his eyes, there's something else. Something I didn't think I would ever see directed at me from the consigliere.

It might actually be approval.

SAL

Róise arrives with the new furniture. Micelli greets her with a passionate kiss and then turns to the rest of us. "Stand up and move to the kitchenette area. This will go faster if we're all out of the way."

I don't know what the hell is going on, but I rise, holding my wife in my arms.

"Put me down, Sal. People are looking."

"Those people are family, coure mio ." My heart.

Without this woman, I would not have one.

Eight of our soldiers file into the room, followed by the guards from the hall. Those men are part of Severu's personal security detail, the godfather, his wife and unborn child their priority.

I allow Ilaria to stand, tucking her against a wall, my body between hers and the rest of the room.

Despite the soldiers being ours and trustworthy enough to be allowed into the suite where the godfather's wife is in labor, my caveman tendencies – as Ilaria used to teasingly call them – come into play.

Under the watchful eye of Severu's security, our soldiers remove all of the furniture in the room, including the sofa and armchairs. Then they bring in new pieces. The plastic wrapping around the unwieldy burdens explains the delay in their arrival. Every piece is new.

It takes less than twenty minutes for the soldiers to get rid of the shipping plastic and exit the suite.

When they are gone, there's a much smaller table with an upholstered bench seat on either side, five oversized chairs big enough for even men of our size to sit comfortably with our women in, and two elegant, wingback chairs that recline.

No doubt Miceli intends them for both his mother and Aria.

One of them will go unused. Unless Ilaria wants to risk the sturdiness of its structure with our combined weights.

"It will hold you both," Miceli says to me, his tone amused.

"The wingback? It looks delicate."

"It's not."

I nod, accepting his word. The oversized chair still looks more comfortable and that's where I lead Ilaria.

NERISSA

When the soldiers arrive with the furniture and my cousin orders all of us to stand up, I escape into the hall outside Catalina's birthing suite.

Ernesto follows, the tension in his body showing how alert to our surroundings he is allowing me to relax. He's the only man I feel this peace with.

I'm always on guard. Even with my dad and brothers. Not because I don't think they will protect me, but because I'm determined to prove they don't have to.

Two of my cousin's guards are still in the hallway, one at either end. Far enough away that if Ernesto and I keep our voices down, they won't be able to tell what we are saying.

There is no such thing as complete privacy for the member of a high ranking mafia family. And there's no higher ranking than mine. The De Lucas.

Sometimes, I still can't believe I'm part of it.

When I lost my first family, I thought I would always be alone. Especially after I had to run from the blood family I'd been sent to live with after my parent's death.

Then dad found me sleeping in alleyway, scavenging for food and using my fists on anyone who got close enough to try to touch me. I didn't trust him at first, but he proved he wasn't like the others.

He wanted to help me.

And then I met mamma. She had a hole in her heart I recognized, because I had one too. It wasn't until after I graduated high school that I learned what had caused her grief.

She'd lost a baby before Salvatore and after him, the doctors were adamant that she couldn't risk another pregnancy. But she wanted more children.

Adoptions was out of the question while her father was alive. By the time he died and my dad took over as capo, mamma thought she was too old to have another child. And then dad brought me home.

I had a good life with my parents, but after their deaths, I'd known nothing but harm and fighting for my very survival. I was a housecat gone feral and mamma was the only one who could have gentled me into trusting again.

She's who I aspire to be. Like my birth mom, mamma resides in my soul like a guiding light.

Ernesto leans back against the wall, arms crossed, like he has all the time in the world, not rushing me to speak. No demand I pay attention to him.

He's a man complete within himself, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need me. He does. He says I'm his sun and I thrive in that role.

His current calm is trained nonchalance that masks how ready he is to spring into action. My man is controlled to the point of seeming emotionless. But he's proven he's not.

His emotions for the few he actually lets in run hot and fierce.

I'm one of those few. His boss, Domenico is another.

Their relationship is one of brotherhood. Ours is so much more.

It's everything.

And that terrifies me more than being in a shootout with three Colombians and no weapon but a jammed Glock.

"I needed air," I say, stepping up beside him. Like maybe he doesn't know.

He nods, digging in his pocket and then offers me a cherry Lifesaver.

When I was a little girl, there was always a roll of cherry Lifesavers in my stocking at Christmas. My dad would tell me to keep them around for when the world tasted sour, so I could remember there were sweet things too.

I stopped eating them after I ran away, convinced the world was nothing but sour. Even after I became part of the De Luca family, I didn't eat another cherry Lifesaver. Not until I told Ernesto the story about it.

Then he started keeping them on hand. And giving them to me when I need the grounding. Like now.

The world doesn't taste sour right now. Anything but. There is something so sweet happening in that birthing suite, it's making my heart hurt.

I take the lifesaver and lean my shoulder against his. "You doing okay?"

He huffs a laugh. "I’m standing in a hospital full of mafia royalty, waiting for a godfather's heir to be born, and trying not to imagine your father breaking my fingers for breathing wrong."

I pop the Lifesaver in my mouth, letting the burst of sweet cherry goodness explode across my tastebuds. "My dad likes you."

"He respects me. Not the same thing."

He’s right. "He’s coming around," I say softly. "And my mom thinks you're good for me."

"I've never seen your parents like that."

He doesn't mean affectionate, because my dad always greets mamma with a kiss and never leaves without doing the same. But her sitting on his lap? That's a new one, even for me. "Me either."